Auto-Grading for 3D Modeling Assignments in MOOCs

Bottlenecks such as the latency in correcting assignments and providing a grade for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) could impact the levels of interest among learners. In this proposal for an auto-grading system, we present a method to simplify grading for an online course that focuses on 3D Modeling, thus addressing a critical component of the MOOC ecosystem that affects. Our approach involves a live auto-grader that is capable of attaching descriptive labels to assignments which will be deployed for evaluating submissions. This paper presents a brief overview of this auto-grading system and the reasoning behind its inception. Preliminary internal tests show that our system presents results comparable to human graders

Technologies to recover nutrients from waste streams: a critical review

Technologies to recover nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium from waste streams have undergone accelerated development in the past decade, predominantly due to a surge in fertilizer prices and stringent discharge limits on these nutrients. This review provides a critical state of art review of appropriate technologies which identifies research gaps, evaluates current and future potential for application of the respective technologies, and outlines paths and barriers for adoption of the nutrient recovery technologies. The different technologies can be broadly divided into the sequential categories of nutrient accumulation, followed by nutrient release, followed by nutrient extraction. Nutrient accumulation can be achieved via plants, microorganisms (algae and prokaryotic), and physicochemical mechanisms including chemical precipitation, membrane separation, sorption, and binding with magnetic particles. Nutrient release can occur by biochemical (anaerobic digestion and bioleaching) and thermochemical treatment. Nutrient extraction can occur via crystallization, gas-permeable membranes, liquid-gas stripping, and electrodialysis. These technologies were analyzed with respect to waste stream type, the product being recovered, and relative maturity. Recovery of nutrients in a concentrated form (e.g., the inorganic precipitate struvite) is seen as desirable because it would allow a wider range of options for eventual reuse with reduced pathogen risk and improved ease of transportation. Overall, there is a need to further develop technologies for nitrogen and potassium recovery and to integrate accumulation-release-extraction technologies to improve nutrient recovery efficiency. There is a need to apply, demonstrate, and prove the more recent and innovative technologies to move these beyond their current infancy. Lastly, there is a need to investigate and develop agriculture application of the recovered nutrient products. These advancements will reduce waterway and air pollution by redirecting nutrients from waste into recovered nutrient products that provides a long-term sustainable supply of nutrients and helps buffer nutrient price rises in the future

Incidence and determinant of eclampsia and its associated complication in tertiary care hospital of Gujarat, India

Background: Eclampsia is one of common cause of maternal mortality in developing country like India. It can be detected and prevented if early ANC care is properly done. Mainstay of management in case of eclampsia is early delivery to improve the prognosis in terms of reducing maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality.Methods: This prospective study was carried out in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology, at tertiary care centre in the state of Gujarat, for a period of two years from July 2012 to June 2014. With purposive sampling method all patients admitted with complain of eclampsia is included in study. Details are taken in predesigned, pre-validated and prescribed proforma.Results: Hospital based incidence of eclampsia in our study is 1.11%. Majority of the patient were unbooked. Eclampsia is a disease of young primigravida, specifically teenage primigravida. Seventy-five percentage of eclampsia cases occurred in the antenatal period, 14% in intranatal period and 11% in the postnatal period.Conclusions: In developing countries like India still eclampsia is major problem. Good antenatal care with increased antenatal visits may help in reducing the incidence. Increased incidence among young primigravida and low socio-economic status group provides the target group for medical measures

Outcome of pregnancy in gestational diabetes as compared to overt diabetes

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder characterised by polyuria, polyphagia, polydipsia and glycosuria. Diabetes in pregnancy can be defined as pregestational (pre-existing) diabetes or gestational diabetes have type 1 (T1DM) or type 2 (T2DM) diabetes mellitus. Present study was carried to compare the maternal and perinatal outcome of overt diabetes mellitus as compared to gestational diabetes mellitus (PGDM) with that of gestational diabetes (GDM).Methods: An observational study was conducted at obstetrics and gynaecology department of a tertiary care center from July 2010 to October 2012 among 23 diabetic women. Seven of them were cases of overt diabetes while 16 were diagnosed during pregnancy. Maternal and fetal outcome were studied. All patients were followed from time of admission to discharge from hospital.Results: mean age of the participants were 26.71±4.89 in overt diabetes as compared to 27.56±4.41 among gestational diabetes. Illiteracy, low socio-economic status, rural residence, family history of diabetes was also high in overt diabetes mellitus as compared to GDM but none of them was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Intrauterine fetal death was more among GDM (37.5%) as compared to overt diabetes (28.57%). Prematurity and LBW were also high in overt diabetes as compared to GDM but none of them were statistically significant. Oligohydramnios, polyhydramnios and premature rupture of membrane were higher in gestational diabetes mellitus as compared to overt diabetes among women. Rate of LSCS were higher in gestational diabetes.Conclusions: Diabetes whether over or gestational is responsible for the poor outcome of the pregnancy so tight control is needed.

Subclinical Foveal Vasculopathy in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography

Purpose: This article identifies subclinical microvascular changes in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients using vascular perfusion densities derived from optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Methods: A retrospective review was performed on individuals with SLE (10 eyes of 5 patients) and age-matched controls imaged with a spectral-domain OCT system (XR Avanti, Optovue, Inc). A split-spectrum amplitude-decorrelation algorithm (SSADA) generated OCTA of the superficial retinal capillaries, deep retinal capillaries, and foveal avascular zone (FAZ). Skeletonized OCTAs were used to create capillary vessel density (VD) values for each image. VD values were compared with clinical staging, and groups were compared using Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney tests. Results: Both the superficial (SCP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP) had a statistically significant decrease in VD in the SLE group when compared with the control group (P &lt;.05). The average VD ± SD for normal individuals in the 3 mm × 3 mm scans was 26.11 ± 1.2 and 37.45 ± 1.8 for the SCP and DCP, respectively. For SLE patients the mean ± SD was 18.46 ± 0.84 and 30.22 ± 1.5 for SCP and DCP, respectively. The mean FAZ was found to be 0.207 mm ± 0.02 for healthy controls and 0.350 mm ± 0.02 for SLE patients (P &lt;.001). Conclusions: In this paper we demonstrate a significantly enlarged FAZ and decreased VD in a small sample of patients with lupus. The SCP VD demonstrated a dose-response–type negative relationship with increased systemic lupus severity. Larger-sample, prospective studies may allow us to further characterize subclinical SLE pathology with OCTA, and OCTA may further provide a means for monitoring the severity or progression of other microvascular diseases

Utilization of sweet potato solids for value-addition to chocolate ice cream

Sweet potato is rich in carotenoids and fiber and confers sweetness to the product in which it is utilized. The aim of the research was to utilize sweet potato in the form of ‘osmo-vac’ dehydrated powder in medium-fat (6.0% fat) ‘chocolate ice cream’ for value-addition. Use of sweet potato powder (SPP) at 2.0 to 4.0% level did not affect the sensory quality of chocolate ice cream appreciably. SPP when used at 4.0% level in ‘medium-fat’ chocolate ice cream led to enrichment of the ice cream with b-carotene and fiber; it could replace 40.0% of milk fat and 10.0% of sugar in ice cream. Ice cream containing 4.0% SPP tended to have markedly higher total carbohydrates and total solids content as compared to control ‘medium-fat’ ice cream. Presence of SPP in ice cream led to slight impairment in its overrun. The ‘medium-fat’ chocolate ice cream prepared utilizing 4.0% SPP had sensory scores similar to those of ‘full-fat’ (10.0% fat) control ice cream. Ice cream is an ideal medium for utilizing sweet potato solids contributing to value-addition to the frozen delicacy.

Low pH anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge for enhanced phosphorous release

This paper assesses anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) at low pH to enhance phosphorous solubility. Batch biochemical methane potential tests were conducted at a pH range of 5 to 7.2 in two separate sets (two different WAS samples collected from municipal WWTP). Low pH

Predicting scale formation during electrodialytic nutrient recovery

Electro-concentration of nutrients from waste streams is a promising technology to enable resource recovery, but has several operational concerns. One key concern is the formation of inorganic scale on the concentrate side of cation exchange membranes when recovering nutrients from wastewaters containing calcium, magnesium, phosphorous and carbonate, commonly present in anaerobic digester rejection water. Electrodialytic nutrient recovery was trialed on anaerobic digester rejection water in a laboratory scale electro-concentration unit without treatment (A), following struvite recovery (B), and following struvite recovery as well as concentrate controlled at pH 5 for scaling control (C). Treatment A resulted in large amount of scale, while treatment B significantly reduced the amount of scale formation with reduction in magnesium phosphates, and treatment C reduced the amount of scale further by limiting the formation of calcium carbonates. Treatment C resulted in an 87 ± 7% by weight reduction in scale compared to treatment A. A mechanistic model for the inorganic processes was validated using a previously published general precipitation model based on saturation index. The model attributed the reduction in struvite scale to the removal of phosphate during the struvite pre-treatment, and the reduction in calcium carbonate scale to pH control resulting in the stripping of carbonate as carbon dioxide gas. This indicates that multiple strategies may be required to control precipitation, and that mechanistic models can assist in developing a combined approach

Assessment of Similarity Factor Using Different Weighting Approaches

The dissolution test is used to achieve differentgoals during the life cycle of a drug. At the timeof registration and beyond, it is used for quality control purposes. For the comparison of dissolution profiles,model-dependent and model-independent methods are reported.1 The f2 metric is extensivel

What Do We Know About Contracting Out in the United States? Evidence from Household and Establishment Surveys

A variety of evidence points to significant growth in domestic contracting out over the last two decades, yet the phenomenon is not well documented. In this paper, we pull together data from various sources to shed light on the extent of and trends in domestic outsourcing, the occupations in which it has grown, and the industries engaging in outsourcing for the employment services sector, which has been a particularly important area of domestic outsourcing. In addition, we examine evidence of contracting out of selected occupations to other sectors. We point to many gaps in our knowledge on trends in domestic outsourcing and its implications for employment patterns and to inconsistencies across data sets in the information that is available. We recommend steps to improve data in this area